Livin' it up in Peru

My name is Ryan O'Hara, and this is my blog. I am currently undergoing training in Chaclacayo, Peru to be a Rural Community Health Promotion Volunteer for the Peace Corps. Nearly everyone has heard of the peace corps but many aren't exactly sure what it is. It's a government agency, not ministry work (...not that there's anything wrong with that), that puts Americans with college level education into communities in developing countries that request assistance developing health programs, environmental protection, or water and sanitation programs, just to give a few examples. I will be serving in Peru for 27 months, which is broken down into 3 months of training at my current location followed by 2 years of service in a site that will be announced to us in a few weeks. At this time my plan after the completion of my peace corps service is to find a spot at a medical school, hopefully in the states somewhere.

So I've safely made it to Peru and have been here for two weeks now. This should show that the Peace Corps is doing a great job of keeping us busy during training. We've got a good mix of ~4 hours of spanish each day, 4-5 hours of safety/security, health, or training specific classes, hanging out with a host family, and trying to compete in a soccer tournament. During the entire duration of service in peru volunteers live with host families and I am currently living with a great family in the barrio of 3 de octobre. My 'hood has been declared the "beverly hills" of the area. This only means that we have toilets that flush and warm water showers brought to us by electricity. This is a weird thing because each time before taking a shower I must flip a pretty serious looking switch clearly labeled "600 Volts"...which to me means it really wants to kill me. This allows me to shower in water that is not cold...but is surely not warm either. In my family I have two parents, susanna, and cesar, and three brothers, mario 8, cesar 13, and gabriel 14. At times it's good to have kids around because they are often more patient with my bad spanish, much less likely to laugh, give up and walk away while muttering something about stupid gringo under their breath.

Para mi, a normal day consists of waking up around 6:30, saying goodbye to the oldest host brothers who are usually on the way out the door to their school which is about 30 minutes away. I eat a breakfast of coffee and bread with butter and chat with my host mom before leaving the house around 730. I meet up with the 4 other volunteers that live in my neighborhood for the 30 minute walk to class. Class lasts from 8:00 - 5:00 with an hour for lunch, and sometimes if I'm lucky I've got an hour of spanish tutorials afterwards because I'm just that awesome at speaking spanish. During the last week we have got ourselves involved in a soccer tournament and had a game every night last week, we took friday off to catch the debate at a friends house.

Last night was a neighborhood party which involved traditional dances, a group of 12-14 saxophonists playing music, fireworks, and a lot of drunk peruvians who just loved to pull a couple gringos into their drinking circle to speak incomprehensible spanish to. We had a strong showing for awhile, probably pushing almost 20 people, but spent most of our time hanging out at a house in the neighborhood, we finally got to the party in the town center once every one was ready for dancing. Unfortunately our group just dissolved into a search for street food. Because the volunteers live in several different barrios some had to head back to their respective areas before it got too late. This was probably one in the morning by now and I spot my host mom. I tried to have a conversation with her father, but due to the combination of my bad spanish and the loud music I was unable to comprehend what he was saying, and he gave me the typical older adult response of shaking his head and muttering something about "no me entiendes (you don't understand me)" or stupid gringo. My one goal for last night was to stay out later than my host mother, but by three in the morning after some dancing and several conversations, with people I couldn't hear much less understand, I had to call it quits. I woke up this morning at 9 to the sound of what I thought was saxophones tuning in the street outside my window. I don't think they were tuning because they continued this for a few hours, they were just playing the same three notes in succession with each other. A nice little peruvian alarm clock for me.

So far the experience here has been amazing and it feels like I have been here for months rather than only two weeks. My group is Peru group 12 which consists of 47 amazing people from all over the country. Some have studied abroad or lived abroad, many in peru, and for a couple this trip to peru was their first time out of the country. After talking with other people it seems like everyone has their moments when they look around and are suddenly reminded that we are in peru and this is now our home, for one girl it was when she could sit in the bathroom of her house and see the moon through a hole in the ceiling. For me it was after a run yesterday when I was sitting and cooling down in the park, I was watching some guys set up the stage for the concert and when I look back to the kids in the park there was a single black and white sheep chasing the kids around the monkey bars and swings. Can't wait to see what the rest of today and the rest of service will bring...